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The Rothman Disintegration
"The Rothman Disintegration" is the seventeenth episode of the fifth season of the The Big Bang Theory. The episode first aired on February 16, 2012.The Big Bang Theory - The Rothman Disintegration (TV Episode 2012) - IMDb Summary Sheldon and his rival Barry Kripke fight it out over the availablity of a new office. Penny gets a gift from Amy that really tests their friendship. Extended Plot The guys return from a retirement party for Professor Rothman, theoretical physicist who had a breakdown. They others wonders about Sheldon since he threw out his shrimp because they were all the same size and therefore he didn't know in what order to eat them. Walking by Dr. Rothman's office, Sheldon calls dibs on it though they find Barry Kripke inside already measuring it for curtains. Sheldon claimed seniority over Kripke and both went to President Siebert to settle it while he was trying to go to the bathroom. He tells them to decide it for themselves, mainly because he doesn’t care. Later Sheldon suggests being diplomatic and Raj suggests Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock. (All hail Sam Kass! HAIL!) Kripke keeps asking him to explain until Howard stops him because Kripke is messing with him. Sheldon then suggests various trivia games, but Kripke declines it. Since there's so many things both of them are good at, Raj asks them what is one thing both of them are bad at? Sports. Amy shows up at Penny’s door with a huge present as a thank you for being her friend. Before she met Penny, she was a mousy wallflower. But now she’s a downtown hipster party girl with a posse, a boyfriend, and a new lace bra that hooks in the front. Unbelievable! Penny is clearly embarrassed, opens it and finds an ugly brownish painting of the two of them celebrating their friendship. She can’t come to tell Amy that she hates it. Thoughtful Amy brought tools to immediately hang it which also thrills Penny. Later, Penny looks at the painting with Bernadette, who agrees it is big and ugly, Bernadette thinks that it males Penny look like a man in it. Penny suggests that she tell Amy that she had to take it down because Bernadette is jealous. She quickly tells her not to since Amy might get her one. Sheldon and Kripke go to the gym and try to play basketball. The first one to hit a free throw wins. Forty-five minutes later no one has made one so they decide whoever bounces the ball highest gets the office. Sheldon wins and gets the office. Penny, Amy, and Bernadette are at the apartment and watching Grease. Amy’s mother never let her watch it because she thought it would encourage her to join a gang. Bernadette and Amy leave, but not before she says good-bye to the figures in the painting. Bernadette tells Penny and transvestite Penny so long. Penny takes down the painting; however, Amy comes back to borrow the Grease DVD and catches her. Penny tries to play it off, but Amy is heartbroken and she takes it away. Penny tries to apologize and she tells Amy that Bernadette was jealous, but obviously their friendship is asymmetrical. The next day Penny runs over to Amy’s apartment to salvage their friendship. They both hang it on the wall with her entertainment center where the audience can’t see it. Originally, they were nude in the painting, but Amy thought clothes would be better to not challenge their heterosexuality. Sheldon is decorating his new office, though Rothman is still in it. He is naked and thinks that no one can see him because he is invisible. Sheldon gets his head stuck in the hole trying to figure out what was in there. He asks Leonard to get some help, but only after he takes a picture of Sheldon and posts it to Facebook. Critics *The TV Critic: "This was a highly skippable episode. The writers chose some very cheap and easy ideas and compounded their lameness by changing their minds during the story... We seem to be in a mid-season lull where the writers ran out of ideas and so reached into the old sit com bag of bad ideas."The TV Critic's Review *The A.V. Club gave this episode a B+The Big Bang Theory: “The Rothman Disintegration” - TV Club - The A.V. Club *IMDb user reviews Notes *'Title Reference:' The title refers to the collapse of Professor Rothman's . *Chuck Lorre's vanity card. *This episode was watched by 15.65 million people with a rating of 5.1 (adults 18-49).Thursday Final Ratings: 'American Idol,' 'Vampire Diaries,' 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Big Bang Theory,' '30 Rock,' 'Office' Adjusted Up; 'Person Of Interest,' 'Mentalist,' 'Secret Circle' Adjusted Down - Zap2it *This episode aired in Canada on February 16, 2012 with 3.537 million viewers and a weekly ranking of #1.Top Programs – Total Canada (English) February 13 - February 19, 2012 - BBM Canada *In England, this episode aired on April 19, 2012 with 2.015 million total viewers and a weekly ranking of #3.BARB via Wikipedia *In Australia, it aired on March 5, 2012 with 1.301 million viewers.Monday 5 March 2012 - TV Tonight Trivia *When Sheldon first moves into his new office, Professor Rothman is present behind the door reading an issue of the Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics. *The Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock game appears again, which is a game that was last seen in season 2 in "The Lizard-Spock Expansion", and mentioned by Howard in the late second season episode "The Hofstadter Isotope". This time Sheldon emphasizes the creator of the game, Sam Kass, and calls for hailing to him. *The contest scene is similar to the wrestling scene in "The Alien Parasite Hypothesis", and takes place in the same gymnasium. *Not the first time that Sheldon talks with President Siebert in the man's restroom; in the previous episode, "The Vacation Solution" (S5E16), it is revealed that he has done the exactly same thing before. *Sheldon even has a spot in the university men's restroom: the right hand urinal. *This is the first time has been mentioned in the show. It is odd that it hasn't been mentioned previously, given that co-creator Bill Prady used to work on the show. *Sheldon was sad to know that Kripke didn't view him as a friend, which clashes with what happened in season 2's "The Friendship Algorithm", where he acknowledged Kripke couldn't be his friend, as he has no more spots left. *At the end of the episode, Penny hangs an empty picture frame facing the camera. Even though Penny chose to hang the picture in her apartment, and will always see it, it was hung on the of her apartment set, where it won't be seen by the audience except in certain circumstances (such as the scene in "The Countdown Reflection" where the painting is visible over Amy's shoulder as she talks to Howard through Penny's partially open apartment door). *None of the guys share scenes with the girls in this episode. *Penny tells Bernadette that the painting Amy gave her is very heavy, yet she has no difficulty lifting it off the wall. *Professor Rothman may have retired, but he is still hanging around the university without clothes. *Professor Rothman's retirement party was previously mentioned by Kripke in "The Beta Test Initiation" in which he mentions that the party has been pushed forward to "next Friday". If all had gone according to plan, that would place the start of this episode on the Friday following the forementioned episode. *Song: "We Go Together" from the movie . Goofs *As Amy asked to borrow Penny's "Grease" DVD, Penny only gave Amy the case, because they never took the disc out of the DVD player. *During Sheldon's explanation of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Kripke temporarily drops his . Quotes :Sheldon: (walks into the university restroom, referring to a ) Kripke! :Kripke: Yes? :Sheldon: You're in my spot. ---- :Bernadette: (looking at the painting) Look at that face! That enormous, unsettling, CRAZY face! :Penny: Is there any chance that I'll learn to love it? :Bernadette: That depends. Do you like pictures of yourself where you look like a man? ---- :Sheldon: And let him win? Do I look crazy to you? ---- :Leonard: All right, this is one-on-one. First person to five wins. Any questions? (Sheldon raises his hand) Yes, Sheldon? :Sheldon: Five what? :Leonard: Balls in a basket. :(Sheldon give Leonard a thumbs up) ---- :Sheldon: Use the Force, Sheldon! (throws the basketball, but it does not even reach the height of the hoop) I may need more Force! ---- :Sheldon: I see no other option but to challenge you to a . I'd smack you with a glove, but just last week, I packed away my winter things. ---- :Raj: I'm glad that men are wearing hats again. They're so distinguished. ---- :Amy: Before I met you, I was a . But look at me now. I'm like some kind of downtown party girl! With a , a boyfriend, and a new lace bra that hooks in the front of all things! ---- :Bernadette: (to Penny) Too bad you're not as strong as the dude in the painting. ---- :Raj: Would you look at this? I pay $25 to some kid on for a handcrafted . He sent me a . He went into his backyard and picked up a stick. :Howard: It's numbered. :Raj: Ooh, --nice! ---- :Sheldon: We're gonna work this office situation out like gentleman. And if that doesn't work, I'm gonna poison his tea. ---- :Sheldon: We're trying to think down here, you geode-loving feldspar jockeys! And you, the notes are C, D, E, G, and A! You pick one, or I'm chopping off that tree! ---- :Professor Rothman: Oh. Hello. :Sheldon: Professor Rothman, This isn't your office anymore. You're retired. :Professor Rothman: I think the word you're looking for is "invisible". ---- :Howard: Sheldon was higher. :Leonard: Congratulations, Sheldon, you win the office. :Sheldon: Who's unsatisfactory in P.E. now? ---- :Amy: I'll let you in on a little secret. Originally we were painted nude. But I had him add clothes, ’cause I thought it was an unnecessary challenge to our heterosexuality. :Penny: Yeah, good call. :Amy: But if you ever change your mind, all it would take is some warm, soapy water and a couple of sponges. :Penny: You’re talking about the painting, right? :Amy: Sure. ---- :Sheldon: Help! Somebody help! :Leonard: What happened? :Sheldon: I was trying to see what was in here and my head got stuck. :Leonard: Why would you do that? :Sheldon: It’s called scientific curiosity. Now go get butter. :Leonard: Hang in there. I’ll be right back. (Takes out phone and takes a photo. Sits down and starts posting it online.) ---- :Amy: I was a fool from Summer Lovin’ to the very last rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong. ---- :Bernadette': That is big. :Penny: So big. :Bernadette: And ugly. :Penny: So ugly. Gallery The rothman disintegration Howard and Raj as spectators.jpg|Howard and Raj are the spectators at Sheldon and Kripke's match. The rothman disintegration Leonard the referee.jpg|Leonard helps the guys settle their dispute over basketball. The rothman disintegration Leonard explains the rules.jpg|Leonard explains the rules of the match. The rothman disintegration Sheldon has a question.jpg|Sheldon has a question regarding the match. The rothman disintegration Sheldon and Kripke avoid the ball.jpg|Sheldon and Kripke both avoid the ball thrown at them. The rothman disintegration Sheldon and Kripke in action.jpg|Sheldon and Kripke in action. The rothman disintegration Sheldon vs Kripke.jpg|Sheldon and Kripke go against each other in a fight for a new office. The rothman disintegration Sheldon prepares to shoot.jpg|Sheldon prepares to shoot. The rothman disintegration Sheldon uses the force.jpg|Sheldon uses the Force to shoot, to no avail. The rothman disintegration Sheldon and Kripke as athletes.jpg|Sheldon and Kripke in a basketball match. S5Ep17 - Amy and Penny with the painting.jpg|Amy and Penny with the painting of them. S5Ep17 - Amy with the hanging painting.jpg|Amy standing beside the painting, as it hangs on the wall. S5Ep17 - Penny and Bernadette look at the picture.jpg|Penny and Bernadette look at the painting. S5EP17 - Sheldon signing the Spock symbol.jpg|Sheldon explains "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" to Kripke. S5EP17 - Siebert speaks to the guys.jpg|Siebert addresses Kripke and Sheldon in the bathroom. Professor Rothman.png|Professor Rothman. The guys enter the office.png|The guys enter Professor Rothman's office. Kripke is also in the office.png|Kripke is also in the professor's office. Amy enters with painting.png|Amy enters with Penny's gift. Amy thanks Penny.png|Amy goes on about all the things Penny has done for her. The painting.png|Amy's gift to Penny: a painting of the two. Penny's reaction to the painting.png|Penny's reaction to the painting. Sheldon and Kripke disturb Siebert.png|Sheldon and Kripke disturb President Siebert in the bathroom. Penny and Bernadette look at the painting.png|Bernadette and Penny stare at the painting. Raj is upset over the fake wand.png|Raj is upset over the item he ordered from Ebay that turned out being fake. Sheldon laughs.png|Sheldon laughs at what Kripke said. Amy and the painting of her.png|Amy and the painting version of her. Sheldon struggles with the ventilator.png|Sheldon struggles with the ventilator. Amy tells Penny about the painting.png|Amy tells Penny about how they would have been painted naked in the painting. Penny's apartment.png|The girls are watching Grease on the TV. Sheldon's head is stuck in the wall.png|Leonard watches on as Sheldon is stuck with his head in the wall. Sheldon stuck in the wall.png|Sheldon's head is stuck in the wall. vanity 378.png|Chuck Lorre Productions, #378 References * Press release from spoilertv.com Category:Episodes Category:Season 5 Category:Leonard-Penny Together Category:Kripke Category:Articles With Photos Category:Articles With Videos Category:The Big Bang Theory episodes